Federal Council discusses mandatory corona tests for travelers to China

The Federal Council is still hesitant – unlike all surrounding EU countries: last week they decided to introduce a mandatory test for people entering China because of the corona wave. EU experts had strongly recommended one. Anyone who tests positive must be quarantined. Wearing protective masks on board aircraft from China is also recommended.

In Switzerland, too, politicians are calling for stricter measures to protect the population against possible virus mutations. However, so far the Federal Public Health Service (BAG) has not seen any urgent need for action. The federal government is based on the EU, the agency had always said. Their recommendations would be examined in detail.

Berset with two variants

After the decisions of the EU states, the Federal Council will discuss the obligation to test in detail for the first time on Wednesday. According to reports, SP Minister of Health Alain Berset (50) wants to present two variants:

• The first stipulates that Switzerland follows the EU recommendation and also decides on mandatory testing.
• In the second variant, the federal government temporarily waives the obligation to test. Instead, other immediate measures are under discussion, such as mandating masks for planes coming from China.

In federal Bern, it is said that the government majority is rather critical of the mandatory inspection and is refraining from it for the time being. “So far we have felt nothing but skepticism,” says an insider. Variant two should therefore have the better chances.

Experts are skeptical about mandatory testing

Experts also have doubts about mandatory testing: “From a virological point of view, such tests make no sense,” said infectiologist Huldrych Günthard of Zurich University Hospital recently in the Sunday Blick. There is currently no evidence that the virus currently rampaging in China is any more dangerous than the virus variants in Europe.

The highest cantonal doctor, Rudolf Hauri (62), is also skeptical about mandatory tests from a professional point of view: “Any mandatory test for travelers from China was primarily a political decision,” says the Zug cantonal doctor to Blick. “In epidemiological and virological terms, isolated tests are currently of little interest.”

He is quite open to other measures. “Wearing a mask on the plane can still reduce in-flight transmissions,” he says. In addition, virological checks of wastewater from aircraft – as the EU experts also recommend – “could provide an additional overview of the viral load”.

Compulsory testing is definitely not off the table

After nearly three years of mass testing, closed borders, travel bans and lockdowns, the Chinese regime surprisingly announced the end of its zero-Covid policy in early December. Since then, more than 250 million people have contracted the virus – nearly one in five of the 1.4 billion population. There are no reliable data on this because the authorities no longer publish information about this.

That means that it is possible that the Federal Council will revert to mandating tests for people entering the country from China. In particular, if the EU were to make compulsory testing mandatory, it would also come up again in Switzerland.